2 chicken thighs
12 medium asparagus spears
3 tbsp peanut or corn oil
1 marinade:
1 tbsp dry sherry
1 tsp cornstarch
2 tsp thin soy sauce
1 pinch sugar
1 sauce:
2 tsp fermented black beans
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp brown sugar
2 tsp black soy sauce
3/4 cup chicken stock
1 cornstarch paste as thickener
Directions
Marinating: With sharp paring knife, scrape chicken meat from thigh;
slice into thin strips across the grain. (Breast meat is not
preferred for this dish, as meat is too dry and spongy.) Combine
sherry, soy, cornstarch and sugar in bowl; massage liquid into meat
with your fingers. Marinate for 15 to
30 minutes. Preparation: Wash asparagus; peel tough white
outer skin off ends; slice on diagonal in 2 1/2" sections. Rinse
fermented black beans. In bowl, combine and mash black beans and
garlic, brown sugar, black soy sauce and chicken stock; stir; reserve
for 15 minutes. Stir-Frying: Add 2/3 of oil to hot wok; when oil is
very hot, add chicken. Stir-fry for about 3 minutes on high heat - or
until chicken begins to shrink and firm up. Remove chicken to
holding bowl. Reheat wok to high, add remaining oil. When oil is hot,
add black bean sauce. Stir-fry for 1 minute. Add asparagus; mix with
sauce. Stir sauce with asparagus. When sauce boils, add cooked
chicken; toss to combine. Dribble in a little cornstarch paste if
needed; cornstarch in chicken marinade might be enough. Toss
ingredients until very little liquid remains and is reduced to glaze.
Dish is ready when asparagus brightens. If you still have too much
liquid, remove ingredients, continue to reduce sauce, then return
ingredients to coat them with sauce. Serve in individual portions.
Servings: 6 servings
Asparagus & Chicken In Black Bean Sauce Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Bean; Chicken; Poultry; Sauce; Vegetable
The History of Recipes
Food historians have traced the existance of recipes far back into ancient history, at least as far back into recorded history as the Egyptians, and possibly even further. Interesting though that maybe, generally, these early records were just primitive hieroglyphic or cunieform instructions for meal preparation.
Interestingly, the most ancient recipe discovered, according to experts in ancient history is a series of tablets in ancient Sumerian describing the preparation of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as making drinkers feel exhilarated. As our culinary historical trip moves on a few more years there were a couple of interesting cookery books which appeared in the 14th Century - a book called `Forme of Cury`, and another, similary entitled `Curye on Inglish`. Surprisingly, these books are not about the indian food that we all know today, but instead accounts of the types of food prepared by the chefs of the nobility of those days. In the fifteenth century, people returning from the crusades brought us many new foods and herbs from the holy land, including coriander, parsley, and basil. These new herbs and spices caused a torrent in publications on food, the majority of which are kept safe in private cookery archives. During the succeeding few hundred years, the rich and powerful families of Wesstern Europe tried to serve the most extravagent meals, and consequentially the best cooks and their recipes increased in prestige. Nevertheless, it wasn`t until the nineteenth century that fine cookery and cookery books became popular. Mrs Beeton in the UK, and Fannie Farmer in the US, spent years to collecting, verifying, and publishing recipes that were common in the better off homes of the day. By the arrival of the 1900s, cookery books were increasing in popularity mostly as a result of better eduction, people having more leisure time and a general increase in wealth. Like it or not, the introduction of television brings us celebrity chefs and the demand for the accompanying recipe books. Which brings us neatly to the present day and the invention of the internet, allowing everybody to access massive numbers of recipes such as those found on this web site. |
We hope you enjoy this Asparagus & Chicken In Black Bean Sauce recipe.
